Gladwell's book is an
overview of how ideas and social behavior go viral, while Berger's
work takes an in-depth look at the common characteristics of things
that become contagious. Gladwell's and Berger's books compliment
each other, and provide helpful tips for getting a product or idea
to spread.

Contagious outlines
six principals that prompt people to share content, opinions and
ideas. They can be one or more phenomenon including include social
currency, triggers, emotion, and practical value. I was impressed
with how easily Berger was able to explain his theory.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

A Note from Adele: This story was submitted to my blog by Kenneth Weene, an educator, psychologist, minister and author of several books. I became associated with Kenneth through his work as a co-host on It Matters Radio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/itmattersradio

Kenneth will be soon be releasing another book called "Times to Try the Soul." In the meantime, enjoy this piece of "flash fiction."

The Terrier and the
Bull

By Kenneth Weene

As he had every
Sunday afternoon for fifteen years, Travers Dunworthy searched the
Internet for any references to the Blessed Sacredbody Church or the
town of Sacredbody, Utah. As leader of the community and bishop of
the flock, it was his self-appointed responsibility to make sure no
slur would go unanswered, no slight unmet. Fifteen years and not once
had there been cause for concern—indeed not even a mention of
church or town. Travers had seen to it; the church and the town his
grandfather had founded remained an unremarked speck on the map of
life.

Thundering from the
pulpit, his face flushed red and his spittle flying, the bishop had
made God’s expectations clear. The wages of sin were death, and if
the exorcism of depravity from his flock left him often on the brink
of apoplexy, why then the wages of purity may well be a stroke.
“Blood pressure be hanged,” Travers told his physician, he would
keep his community pure.

For fifteen years he
had bellowed, cajoled, threatened. For fifteen years, his efforts had
borne the fruit of communal piety. And now…

Becka scurried into
her husband’s study. A small terrier of a woman, she always came at
her husband’s call, always scurrying, always worried that Travers
would be annoyed. How often had he condemned her to hell everlasting?
Fortunately, Travers was a forgiving soul who would lift those oaths
of condemnation and anathema after a few days of tears and pleading.
Still, it was a fearful thing to know that during those days, should
something happen, some accident or foul play, eternity would be spent
in pain and sulfur.

“What, Dear?”
she asked—her voice tremulous.

“This!” He
glowered at her as he pointed at the computer’s monitor. “This!
How do you explain it?”

Becka moved closer,
lifting the reading glasses which hung from her neck, perching them
on her nose, and peering at the offending screen. “The Essence of
the Body in Sacredbody” was the title; Francine Bushwick the
author. “Bad enough,” she knew instantly, but the accompanying
photograph was far worse. There they were, the town’s womenfolk, at
least those under thirty, in—gasp and geez almighty—two-piece
bathing suits.

“Blasphemy,”
Travers shouted. “Where were their fathers, their husbands, their
fiancés?”

At first it had not
registered. It could not be conceived. But there she was, their own
daughter, Rosalie, in the second row, third from the right.

“And where were
you?” Travers demanded; switching—as he so often and easily did
when it came to their daughter—the onus to his wife.

“Who is this
Francine Bushwick?” Becka asked. Better to deflect her husband’s
wrath than to face it.

“Some stranger,” he bellowed. “Some harlot corrupting our
children. But where and how?” A last word rising to a howl of
outrage. “How?!” His eyes bulged.

“You must preach
about this. This very Sunday,” Becka said. “Travers, I’m sure
you will make the town see the error of its ways before these, these
costumes find their way from the computer to the new pool.”

The new pool, just
installed in the middle of the community park, would be opening in
two weeks. How scandalous such attire would be. They would be the
laughingstock of Utah. Unthinkable.

“You are right,
Wife,” Travers said. “A sermon about modesty. And Rosalie will be
there; must be there.”

“Of course,
Travers. I’ll leave you to it.”

Becka tiptoed from
the room quietly closing the door behind her. In the kitchen she
slipped her new computer, a gift from their daughter, from its hiding
place under the cleaning supplies.

“Sunday’s sermon
should be a barnburner. Undoubtedly, we are all going to hell.”
Becka emailed to her women’s group; signing the missive: Francine
B.

Kenneth
Weene is a novelist, essayist, and poet whose
work is permeated by his weird sense of humor and awareness of the
foibles of humankind. Find
his books here.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

They say you shouldn't judge a book by
its cover, but with a title like You are a Badass: How to Stop
Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by
Jen Sincero, I couldn't resist pronouncing it as my kind of
book before I had even read a single sentence.

I read a lot of spiritual and self help
books, enjoying the different ways authors basically say the same
thing. I agree with the premise that our thoughts form our
perceptions which in turn form our reality. If you have negative
thoughts, you subconsciously call negative people and situations into
your life. Some people call this the Law of Attraction.

While Jen Sincero doesn't really break
any new ground in You are a Badass, she provides something
that is typically lacking in self-help books: humor. Since I truly
believe laughter is the best medicine, this book really worked for
me.

One of the other things that Sincero
does is expel the myth that money is bad and everyone who want a lot
of it is greedy. We live in an abundant world so feeling guilty
about money doesn't do anything but make us miserly miserable.

If you're in the mood for a hip, funny
and informative read, I'd recommend You are a Badass: How to
Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by
Jen Sincero. To learn more about the author, visit her website:
http://www.jensincero.com

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Too bad loosing weight isn't
as much fun as gaining it! As is my custom, I went “Hog Wild”
over the holiday season. Part of this is due to my insistence on
making homemade sweets for practically everyone on the planet. I
have a friend who calls this well intentioned gesture bing a
“Pusher,” but that's a topic that needs to be explored in a
future article. For now, suffice to say I made and ate an alarming
number of sugary confections.

2016 brought with it an
estimated seven to eight pound weight gain. Gasp! That's a hell
of a lot of extra junk in the trunk!

There
are a plethora of diets out there, but at the end of the day, losing
weight boils down to eating less and exercising more. Some people
can be extremely disciplined when it comes to food. Unfortunately,
I'm not one of them. On the flip side, I'm great about exercising (I
have an adrenalin addiction which requires a daily fix).

I have a
strange habit of feeling depressingly deprived when I don't allow
myself to eat the foods I love. For me, the best way to lose weight
is to implement portion control. Like a lot of people, I can starve
myself for a few days to drop some emergency pounds, but that never
works over the long haul.

As I was
preparing to start a new year, an article was brought to my attention
that offered a simple solution to shedding unwanted blubber. A life
coach suggested that people who want to lose weight should
concentrate on just dropping one pound a week. While that doesn't
seem like a very lofty goal, if maintained, a person could lose
almost 50 pounds a year!

I
decided to try this pound a week method to see how it works. After
all, losing just one pound in seven days should be easy if I cut back
a little on what I'm already eating. In fact, I can probably breeze
through losing a pound a week for two or three weeks simply by making
minor adjustments in my eating habits. I suspect the hard part will
come around week four when cutting back on certain foods isn't enough
to maintain the weight already lost while continuing to drop one
pound every seven days.

If I
stick with my experiment for two months, I hypothesis that at some
point I'll have to make some actual behavioral changes in order for
this to work. And that is the ingenious part of this approach: I
don't have to make a bunch of radical changes all at once. I can
make gradual changes, easing myself into better eating habits. I
have no idea if I will be successful, but I've decided that if I make
myself be accountable by writing a post every week, I'll increase my
chances of decreasing my waistline. Stay tuned to see how it all
shakes out, or off, as I hope the case will be!

About Me

Adele
Park is an Audie Award Winning Author, Producer and Editor. Park
worked as a TV and radio reporter, news anchor and on-air personality
for more than 20 years. In 2008, Park formed Straight to Audio
Productions L.L.C. and opened a recording studio in St. George, Utah.